Under the watchful eyes of everyone, she cast flirtatious glances with a bold and direct personality, utterly indifferent to the stares of others.
But Yang Kai wasn't falling for her act. He chuckled helplessly. "Senior Sister Qu, you're making an unreasonable demand. From what I know, this Innate Origin Fruit Tree only produces a single Innate Origin Fruit each time it bears fruit. When that happens, everyone here will inevitably scramble for it. You and I can at least refrain from attacking each other, but asking me to protect you? That's a tall order."
Precisely because there was only one Innate Origin Fruit, every Bearer here had to give their all. That was why, despite Xu Zhen's decent relationship with both her and Gu Pan, he hadn't stood together with them.
Every Bearer who had come to this place was a competitor.
They had received the full backing of the Sacred Spirits behind them and bore those Spirits' expectations. If they failed, the Sacred Spirits' plans would fall through—and those Spirits could well fly into a rage, putting their lives in mortal peril.
Throughout history, many Bearers had been killed by the Sacred Spirits after failing to seize the Innate Origin Fruit. That Kun Shark had killed Bearers too. The Moon Essence that Yang Kai had refined—a Water-Element treasure—had been brought out of the Land of No Old by one of the Kun Shark's Bearers. After that man was killed, the Kun Shark had no use for the Moon Essence and had bestowed it upon the Sea Tribe.
It wasn't just the Kun Shark who acted this way. Most Sacred Spirits did the same. If you accepted their benefits but failed to satisfy them, how could they possibly let you off?
Qu Huachang giggled sweetly. "Young Brother Yang, why be so heartless? Here's what I'm thinking—we can join forces to fend off enemies first. You've spent quite some days in this Land of No Old, Young Brother Yang. You must have encountered some Bearers by now and seen their methods. Working together is better than fighting alone, wouldn't you agree? As for the Innate Origin Fruit, we'll each rely on our own abilities when the time comes."
Yang Kai nodded. Qu Huachang's proposal wasn't bad. While he was confident that if he went all out, no one here could match him in raw power, even a tiger could be overwhelmed by a pack of wolves. A pair of fists couldn't beat four hands. If he showed too much strength and aroused everyone's fury, he wouldn't come out of it well.
Having one or two allies at a time like this would help distribute some of the pressure.
"Junior Sister Gu thinks the same?" Yang Kai turned to look at Gu Pan. The young girl had a more introverted personality and kept her head lowered throughout. At his words, she simply gave a faint nod, expressing her agreement.
Yang Kai said, "Joining hands is perfectly fine, but is it just the three of us? What about Brother Lin, Brother Xu, and Brother Daoran?"
The four of them were all Disciples from Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands, and they had cooperated once before.
Qu Huachang pouted. "Those smelly men—why should we care whether they live or die? Besides, in a situation like this, more allies doesn't necessarily mean better results. Young Brother Yang, you should understand that too."
Yang Kai was speechless. "I'm a man too!"
Qu Huachang covered her mouth and laughed. "But you smell nice—you're nothing like them. You make my mouth water..." As she said this, she leaned in and deliberately sniffed near Yang Kai.
Yang Kai couldn't handle that and hastily took two steps back, nodding with a solemn expression. "Then it's settled. We join forces to fight off enemies first!"
Qu Huachang's beautiful eyes lit up. "It's a promise."
With the three of them joining hands, others naturally paired up as well, though not many. After all, most people didn't know each other well enough, and partnering with strangers might be worse than fighting alone while watching for opportunities.
In the time they had been talking, more and more people had gathered at this location. Some had even slipped in quietly, concealing their figures—clearly intending to bide their time and snatch the fruit.
Lin Feng and Ning Daoran had arrived as well, grouping together with Xu Zhen, quickly forming a small faction.
Another hour passed, and over sixty warriors had arrived at the site.
Those who rushed here at this moment were without exception Bearers chosen by the Sacred Spirits, drawn by the Innate Origin Fruit Tree. These sixty-plus Bearers, both openly and covertly, watched the fruit tree's condition, waiting in silence.
For now, only the tree itself had appeared—the Innate Origin Fruit was nowhere to be seen.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth flowed toward the tree in an endless stream, and the tree grew more solid with each passing moment.
Until finally, someone called out in a low voice, "The Innate Origin Fruit is about to appear!"
Every heart jolted. Looking up, they saw at the very top of the tree a tiny flower bud suddenly manifest. The bud drew in a tremendous amount of spiritual energy, blooming rapidly to form a blossom.
A peculiar aura wafted from the blossom, washing over everyone like a spring breeze, their minds becoming clear and luminous.
Yang Kai's heart stirred. He vaguely felt that this aura was somewhat familiar. It suddenly dawned on him—the aura he had sensed when refining the Moon Essence bore a certain resemblance in nature to what was emanating from this blossom.
After a moment's thought, he understood. The Moon Essence was also an innate treasure and contained a trace of primordial qi. The Innate Origin Fruit was the same. However, compared to the blossom, the Moon Essence's aura was clearly inferior by a wide margin.
The blossom quickly unfurled into a full flower bud. Under the influence of that peculiar aura, everyone stood in a trance, witnessing the origin and birth of life. In that moment, the thoughts in each person's mind collided like sparks of lightning, flashing with all manner of inspiration.
Those fleeting sparks of insight elevated everyone's comprehension to an extraordinary degree in a short time. Many things about Cultivation that had been unclear in the past suddenly clicked into place, bringing sudden enlightenment.
In Yang Kai's mind, thoughts churned wildly. In terms of his path of Cultivation, there wasn't much he found unclear—the foundation for advancing to the Open Heaven realm had already been laid. As long as he consolidated his strength methodically, he would eventually achieve the High-Rank Open Heaven stage.
Yet borrowing the birth of the Innate Origin Fruit, the sparks of inspiration bursting forth in his mind had given rise to an incredibly audacious idea. If this idea succeeded, then after his advancement to the Open Heaven realm, his combat power would be truly extraordinary!